Automatic trolley-base.



No. 841,497. I PATENTED JAN. 16, 1907. H. FELLOWS & I. A. GAMMETT.

AUTOMATIC TR OLLBY BASE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23, 1 905- 2 sHEBTs sHEBT 1.

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No. 841,497. v PATENTEDJAN. 15, 1907. H. w. FELLOWS-6n I. A. GAMMETT.

AUTOMATIC TROLLEY BASE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23, 1905.

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HUGH W. FELLOWVS, OF OAHUENGA, AND IRA A. OAMMETT, OF HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA.

AUTOMATIC TROLLEY-BASE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 15, 1907.

Application filed November 23, 1905. Serial No. 288,678.

T0 at whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, HUGH W. FELLows, residing at Oahuenga, and IRA A. OAMMETT, residing at Hollywood, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, citizens of the United States, have invented a new and useful Automatic Trolley-Base, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a trolley-base which operates to normally hold the trolley raised with the trolley resting against the wire, but which when the trolley slips off from the wire operates to drop the trolleypole below the trolley- *ire, so as to prevent damage to the trolley-pole or trolley resulting from the trolley or trolley-pole striking against any overhead work-such, for ex.- ample, as span wires or bridges-and obviously to also prevent damage to such overhead structures. nature is shown in another application of ours filed September 15, 1905, Serial No. 278,590.

One of the main objects of the invention is to provide a device of the character described, which is adapted to perform all of its functions without requiring the application of any attachments to the trolley-pole or trolley, as is the case with many other devices of this character. The present device is self-contained and is adapted to receive a trolley-pole of the ordinary type, the device being readily adapted to be placed on a car in lieu of the ordinary trolley-base without necessitating any change of parts on the car which support the trolley-base.

Another object is to provide a device of the character described which operates entirely mechanically and does not depend upon hydraulic or fluid-pressure devices of any sort.

Another object is to provide for raising the trolley-pole by a simple manipulation of the regular trolleyrope.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a simple, compact, and positively-operating mechanism which is of economical con struction and durable in use.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device, showing the parts in the position they have when holding the trolley-pole raised with the trolley resting A device of this general.

Fig. 1, showing the position of the parts which they have when the pole has dropped below the wire. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view on a vertical plane through the device, illustratingthe position of the parts produced by manual operation of the trolleyrope in the act of setting the mechanism to raise the pole, the parts being shown in a position slightly behind the position assumedwhen operative to raise the pole. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the device in the position shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a detail in perspective of the slide-bar. Fig. 6 is a side view in detail of the sup porting-arm and adjacent parts. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the dog, which has been shown inverted in order to illustrate its construction. Fig. 8 is a detail view in perspective'of the automatic controller.

1 designates the roof of the car or other upper supporting structure, having a bearing 2, on which is mounted a swivel-plate 3, having a pin 4, which is revolubly mounted in the bearing 2. The swivel-plate 3 is provided with lugs 5, bridged by a shaft 6, to which is pivoted a bifurcated supportingarm 7, the outer end of which carries a sleeve 8, which forms a socket for the trolley-pole 9. The supporting-arm 7, together with one half of the sleeve 8, is preferably formed integrally, the other half of the sleeve 8 being attached to the integral partby bolts 10, which pass through lugs 11,formed on both parts of the sleeve. The two wings of the supportingarm 7 are united by a bridge 12, located near the sleeve, which also forms a step for the end of the trolley-pole 9 to prevent the same from accidentally slipping down through the sleeve.

Formed on the rear end of the swivelplate 3 is a head 13, into which is screwed a spring-guide 14., and slidably mounted there. on is a spring-bar 15, there being a coiled compression-spring 16 encircling the springguide 14 and lying between the head 13 and the spring-bar 15. Opposite ends of the bar 15 are perforated to receive a pair of draw-bars 17, the stems of which are somewhat smaller than the perforation in the spring-bar and which are threaded and provided with lock-nuts 18, arranged to bear against the spring-bar. At their forward ends the draw-bars 17 are formed, preferably,

I against the wire. Fig. 2 is a view similar to l integrally with a fork 18*, having a forwardly-extending bar 19 .which is hinged by a pintle 20 to a slide-bar 21, (shown in detail in Fig. 5,) which has an abutment 22. The rear end of the slide-bar 21 is of a width which. substantially fills the space between the two members of the supporting-arm 7, while the shank 23 is narrower. The slidebar 21 has also a pin forming a pair of laterally-projecting studs 24.

he two members of the supporting-arm 7 are provided, respectively, with a longitudinal slot 25, into which slots the pintle 20 and studs 24 project, as shown. The two mem bers of the supporting-arm 7 are also respectively povided with a longitudinal slot 26, anda pintle 27, which passes through the rear end-of theshank 23, projects into the slots 26, so that the slide-bar 21 is slidably mounted to move longitudinally in the supporting-arm 7. On its under side the shank 23. has a stop-lug 27". A pair of togglelevers 28 and 29 are pivoted together at 30, the other end of the lever 28 being pivoted on a pintle 31, which is supported and projects through and slightly beyond the two members of the supportingarm 7. The jointed end of the toggle-arm 28 has a rounded knuckle 32, which is adapted to bear against the swivel-plate 3, as will be hereinafter described. The other toggle-lever 29 is pivoted to the pintle 27, and thus articulates with'the'rear end of the shank 23.

Pivoted to the supporting-arm- 7 by a pin 33-is a dog 34. (Shown in detail in Fig. 7, but inverted for the purpose of illustrating its construction.) The dog 34 has a detent 35, which normally engages the abutment 22. Passing through the dog 34 is a screw 36, whicl1,'if the trolley-pole exceeds a certain elevation, bears against the upper face of the bar 19, and thus acts to raise the dog 31 and lift its detent out of engagement with the abutment 32. Preferably formed integrally with the dog 34 is a yoke 37, having legs 38, which lie on opposite outside faces of the members of the supporting-arm 7.

Pivotedto the outer projecting ends of the pintle 20 is an automatic controller or lag bar 39'(shown in detail in Fig. 8) and comprising a pair of arms 40, united at one end by a weight 41 and formed at their other endswith feet 42, which lie directly under the respective legs 38of the dog. The arms 40 have slotted lugs 43, which loosely take the ends of fiat springs 44, the forward ends of the springs 44 being attached by means of studs 45 'to the supporting-arm 7, the latter having one or more pins 46 arranged underneath the springs 44 in order to maintain them under proper tension to normally hold the controller against the under side of the supporting-arm 7.

When the parts are in normal position, the detent 35 engages the abutment 32, and the levers 28 and 29 of the toggle are nearly in l line, as indicated in Fig. 1, while the springs 44 hold the controller close against the under side of the arm 7, so that the controller-feet 42, upon which rest the legs 38 of the dog, allow the dog to remain in its lowest position, with its detent 35 caught against the abutment 22. The slide-bar 2]. is thus held from being drawn forward by the action of the spring 16, and thus the latter yieldingly holds the trolley-pole suspended, and the pole is obviously capable of up-and-down movement during the movement of the car to suit the varying elevation of the trolleywire. When the car reaches the end of the route, the conductor may pull down the trolley-pole by means of the trolley-rope (not shown) to swing the pole around in the ordinary manner to reverse the pole on the car. Then by gradually easing up on the rope he may guide the trolley against the wire, and the car is ready for the return trip. The reversing of the pole or the lowering of it for any other purpose is accomplished in exactly the same manner that the ordinary trolley-pole is manipulated.

When the trolley-wheel flies off from the wire, the spring 16, acting through its connections, gives a quick upward movement to the trolley-pole; but as there is no connection from the spring 16 which would impart this same movement to the controller 39 the latter by its inertia lags behind the trolleypole, as the springs 44 are sufliciently resilient to permit of this action, whereupon the legs 38, being sustained by the feet 42of the controller, act to raise the dog 34, which lifts the detent 35 out ofengagement with the abutment 32, whereupon the slide-bar 21, being unlocked from forward movement relatively to the supporting-arm 7, allows the latter, together with the trolley-pole, to drop into the position shown in Fig. 2. When it is desired to raise thetrolley, the trolley-pole is pulled down slightly farther by means of the trolley-rope, and as the arm 7 is thus depressed the knuckle 32, which bears against the swivel-plate gle-levers 28 and 29, sliding the pintle 27 rearwardly in the slot 26, which draws back the slide-bar 21, the abutment 22 riding under the detent 35 and being caught by the detent when the trolley-pole has been depressed slightly lower than the position of the parts illustrated in Fig. 3, whereupon the tension of the spring 16 is again imparted to the supporting-arm 7 and raises the pole, the trolley being guided into its place on the wire by manipulating the trolley-rope.

It will be seen that if the trolley-pole exceeds a certain elevation the end of the screw 36 will bear against the slide-arm 20 and slip the dog out of engagement with the lug 32, so that the pole will drop. It is thus lIO 3, acts to straighten the togpole to swing abnormally high.

What we claim is l. A pivoted trolley-pole support, amember slidable thereon, a dog for engaging the member, a controller comprising a lag-bar normally swinging in common with said support and operating by its inertia to drag behind said support to disengage the dog when said support starts an upward jerk, and a spring connected to the said member for holding the pole elevated when the member is engaged by the dog.

2. A pivoted trolley-pole support, a member slidable thereon, a dog for engaging the member, a controller comprising a lag-bar normally swinging in common with said sup port and operating by its inertia to drag behind said support to disengage the dog when said support starts an upward jerk, and a spring connected to the said member for hold ing the pole elevated when the member is en gaged by the dog, and means for reengaging the dog with the member when the pole is depressed below its dropped position.

3. A pivoted trolley-pole support, a member slidable thereon, a dog for engaging the member, a pair of toggle-levers one of which is connected to the slidable member, the other of which is connected to the support, a spring connected to the slidable member, and a swivel-plate supporting the trolley-pole support and against which the joint of said toggle-levers may be pressed for straightening the same when the trolley-pole is depressed below its dropped position.

4. A pivoted bifurcated supporting-arm, a slide-bar mounted thereon, a spring connected with the slide-bar, an, abutment on the slide-bar, a dog pivoted to the supporting-arm and engaging the abutment, and a ing-arm and operating by inertia to drag behind said supporting-arm when it starts an upward jerk to release the dog from the abutment.

5. A pivoted bifurcated supporting-arm, a slide-bar mounted thereon, a spring connected with the slide-bar, an abutment on the slide-bar, a dog pivoted to the support lag-b ar normally swinging with the supporting-arm and engaging the abutment, and means operating by inertia to release the dog from the abutment comprising a bifurcated controller pivoted to the supporting-arm and having feet adapted to bear against legs formed on the dog.

6. A swivel-plate, a bifurcated supportingarm pivoted thereto, a slide-bar between the members of the arm, pins on the slide-bar which project into slotsin the supportingarm, a spring-guide on the swivel-plate, a spring-bar on the guide, a spring between the bar and swivel-plate, draw-bars connecting the spring-bar with the slide-bar, a pair of jointed toggle-levers one of which is connected to the slide-bar, the other of which is connected to the supporting-arm, a dog pivoted to the supporting-arm and normally engaging the slide-bar, and a bifurcated controller pivoted to the supporting-arm and adapted to raise the dog when the controller lags behind the pole.

7. A pivoted supporting-arm, a bar slidable thereon, a spring for restraining the bar, a dog pivoted to the arm and engaging the slidable bar, a controller pivoted to the supporting-arm, and a pair of flat springs connected with the controller and supportingarm for yieldingly holding the controller against the supporting-arm.

8. In combination, a pivoted trolley-pole, a supporting-spring, means intermediate the spring and pole embracing a toggle with means for normally holding the toggle straightened and the pole under the spring tension, and for flexing the toggle and remov- ,ing the spring tension to allow the pole to drop immediately when the pole starts an upward jerk.

lnxtestimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands, at Los Angeles, California, this 16th day of November, 1905.

HUGH W. FELLOl/VS. IRA A. CAMMETT.

In presence of GEORGE T. HACKLEY, VERNA A. TALBERT. 

